Obama Foundation responds to group's lawsuit over use of Jackson Park

For the first time, the top brass of the Obama Foundation has responded to a lawsuit that is threatening to kill the Obama Presidential Center project.

In an appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board on Tuesday, foundation officials took issue with a lawsuit filed by the environmental group Protect Our Parks that maintains the city doesn’t have the authority to give away public parkland to a private organization.

The foundation argued that the center would not violate a key element of the use of Jackson Park — the public trust doctrine — and that agreements reached with city officials would ensure that it would fall under public control and serve a public purpose.

David Simas, chief executive of the foundation, pointed to two ordinances introduced in the City Council on Tuesday stipulating, among other things, that ownership of the center will be transferred to the city once it is built.

“While this will be built with private funds, at the end of the construction, the building will be turned over to the city of Chicago and its people,” Simas said. “The city will own the building, the Obama Foundation will not. ... These amenities will be amenities of the people and for the people of Chicago.”

Simas’ statement came just two days before the lawsuit is scheduled for another court hearing before federal Judge Robert Blakey.

In May, the leaders of Protect Our Parks and three other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in federal court calling the presidential center an “institutional bait-and-switch.”

The foundation is not named as a defendant in the Protect Our Parks lawsuit. Instead, the lawsuit targets the city and the Chicago Park District, arguing that the presidential center is not the same as a presidential library and should not be granted access to public land. But even if the project was designed to house Obama’s archives, the environmentalists still wouldn’t want it built in a public park, they have said.

Taking the issue to court has stirred memories of litigation that led George Lucas to drop his plans for a Lucas Museum along Chicago’s lakefront.

From the time the lawsuit was filed, the foundation has remained silent on the issue, saying only that leaders would cooperate with the city and Park District.

But on Tuesday, the foundation’s delegation of six top leaders raised the issue.

“It’s something we are taking quite seriously,” Simas said about the lawsuit. “The plaintiffs have essentially asked that what we (envision) not be allowed in Jackson Park. We believe the suit is without merit, but we are taking it very, very seriously.”

Simas said that unlike other user agreements for museums, this one would last 99 years and has to be extended by the City Council at the end of the term. And while the foundation would be in charge of the outdoor green spaces and landscaping, it would have to maintain the outdoor spaces according to Park District rules.

“To the end of the day, this is a public park,” he said.

“Many, if not most of the amenities that you see in other parks throughout the city will be now built in Jackson Park and we will maintain it.”

They touted the hundreds of thousands of visitors they expect the campus to draw. They emphasized that the project will take up about 19.3 acres of the 500-acre park. They said not only that the campus would honor the country’s first African-American president, but it would also activate a portion of the park that they say is underused.

“I’ve been to Jackson Park thousands of times. Until we walked this site looking at it in contemplation of the center, I had never stepped foot on that piece, part of Jackson Park,” Nesbitt said. “Nor did I ever feel comfortable taking my children there, because a highway runs right through it.”

Although the project is losing a fervent cheerleader when Mayor Rahm Emanuel leaves office, foundation leaders said the center has widespread community support and support of city aldermsn. As a result, they don’t fear the current agreements will be challenged by a new mayor.

“We feel like there is a public will that is around this project and a level of energy and excitement that’s going to continue,” Strautmanis said. “So we’re not really caught up in the politics of this thing. We have a project to do, we have a groundbreaking that’s coming up. We’re bringing something that is historical and that is lasting beyond the politics of moment, of the day. That’s our focus.”

According to Cohen, the user agreement has been a part of the foundation’s conversation with city officials from the beginning of the project in 2015. But it has only been recently that the specifics were finalized.

The project still has to clear federal hurdles before it can be built.

But once it is built and transferred to the city, the foundation will pay the city a $10 fee and enter a 99-year contract to manage and occupy the property. The foundation will be allowed to hold private events for 12 days during a year, and no political fundraisers will be allowed.

In addition, the money generated from parking fees will be dedicated to covering the operation costs of the facility. The museum and plaza will have to operate for hours similar to other Chicago museums. The foundation has to document that it can pay for the construction and create an endowment to keep the facility running.

The user agreement will be introduced to the City Council on Thursday. The court hearing for the Protect Our Parks lawsuit is the same day at 9:45 a.m. at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.